Monitoring equipment performance, assessing demand, and continuously assessing and enhancing building performance are all necessary functions of a smart facility. This article discusses the three examples of a smart building.
Fremont, CA: The idea of smart buildings emerged about twenty years ago, appearing to be a byproduct of the rapidly expanding sustainability field. Efforts to integrate facility systems and lower energy use, such as turning on lights and reversing HVAC setbacks using occupancy sensors or card access systems, were the main emphasis of smart building efforts at the time.
This was only the start of the dream: fully integrated building systems that are proactive in identifying and resolving problems, work effectively, and actively maximize productivity.
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Products enabling facility managers to operate smarter buildings are already on the market. Here are three instances of what is considered to be intelligent buildings:
System Performance:
Equipment performance should be tracked by a smart building, which should be able to look for deviations from optimal and failures or limitations being exceeded.
An air handler, for instance, combines several sensors, coils, dampers, and fans to meet space requirements.
The air coming back from the conditioned room is known as return air temperature (RAT), and it should normally be in the mid-to upper-70s Fahrenheit range. The ideal temperature of the air exiting the air handler required to meet the conditioned space is the supply air temperature or SAT. The minimum quantity of outside air needed for the building code is expressed in CFM (cubic feet per minute). This means that unconditioned outside air must be incorporated, which substantially impacts a building's efficiency and is an important parameter to track. The air temperature produced when return air and outside air are combined is measured by the mixed air temperature (MAT). Depending on the design, this air is passed through a cooling and heating coil to produce the appropriate surface area temperature (SAT).
When combined with the percentages of the fans, valves, and dampers, the relative variances between these air temperatures can reveal much about how the AHU operates. Algorithms can track these characteristics and provide information for maintenance on a damper, sensor, or other component that may fail.
Occupancy Driven Operations:
To meet the load with the least amount of energy—not too little, not too much, but exactly the right amount—is the aim of efficiency. One of the main factors in establishing those needs is the occupancy and utilization of a facility. As a result, a smart building should continuously assess demand in a given area and adjust supply to meet it.
Occupancy sensors and demand-control ventilation (which monitors carbon monoxide levels) have been used. Still, technology has moved far beyond these antiquated methods to encompass tracking of individuals, gadgets, and heat creation.
Condition-Based Maintenance:
With the availability of skilled workers becoming increasingly scarce and uptime and productivity becoming increasingly important, CBM offers one of the biggest, if not the most, opportunities for smart operations.
As previously said, a smart building should measure and trend building and asset performance to monitor variances in performance. To ensure that the proper maintenance is done at the appropriate time and minimize needless jobs while making the most of the limited human resources, it should also continuously analyze and learn from breakdowns and failures.
A motor's amperage draw can be measured, along with demand, to detect irregularities such as impending belt failure, clogged filters, and misalignment. These are simple examples.
